Willoughby Avenue - KOLUMN Magazine

The Privilege of White Victimhood | Dame Magazine

January 6, 2020January 6, 2020Race, Race Relations ...

We’re in the grips of a peak white-pity party moment. And it has the potential to incite a riot. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Being an actual victim of anything sucks. This is a thing we are supposed to learn as we grow up. We’re supposed to grow out of the phase where we get jealous of the […]

Black Queens Came To Afrochella Dressed To Impress | MadameNoire

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020African Cuisine, African Culture ...

This weekend Ghana hosted their annual Afrochella festival, a celebration of the different types of African cultures through music, food, fashion and much more. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In contrast to Coachella, Afrochella is an entirely black experience where every attendee has a feeling of solidarity. This year’s theme is Year of the Return of the African […]

An exhibit celebrating 400 years of African American culinary history is coming to New York | Lonely Planet

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020African American Cuisine, African American Culture

African American culinary traditions have a long and storied history, but their influence doesn’t often receive the recognition it deserves. This winter, though, one New York museum will begin to rectify that situation, via a Kickstarter-funded exhibit dedicated to the black chefs, farmers, and food and drink producers who made the country’s cuisine what it […]

The Names of 1.8 Million Emancipated Slaves Are Now Searchable in the World’s Largest Genealogical Database, Helping African Americans Find Lost Ancestors | Open Culture

January 5, 2020January 23, 2020African American History, Reconstruction ...

The successes of the Freedman’s Bureau, initiated by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and first administered under Oliver Howard’s War Department, are all the more remarkable considering the intense popular and political opposition to the agency. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Under Lincoln’s successor, impeached Southern Democrat Andrew Johnson, the Bureau at times became a hostile entity to the […]

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification | The Conversation

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020African American History, Slavery

I’ll never forget a student’s response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: “Martin Luther King freed the slaves.” [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929, more than six decades after the time of enslavement. To me, this comment underscored how closely Americans […]

This Black-Owned Cafe is Redefining the Culture for People in Richmond, Virginia | Black Enterprise

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020#BuyBlack, African American Entrepreneurs

A little black girl walks into a coffee shop and stops when she sees a black woman by the counter. With excitement and curiosity in her eyes, the little girl asks, “Do you own this?” Kelli Lemon, the owner of the Urban Hang Suite RVA social cafe, bends down as she looks at the little […]

MUHAMMAD: Mayor Hatcher Stood First and Stood Tall | The Washington Informer

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020African American History, African American Politics ...

Gary, Indiana, Mayor Richard Hatcher joined his ancestors on Dec. 13, after a long and distinguished career in public service. He also made a sacrifice and did this reporter a big, big favor some 40 years ago. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Both he and Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes were elected on Nov. 7, 1967. They were the […]

Reading ‘Us’ Through Its T-shirts | The New York Times

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020African American Cinema, African American Film ...

With its star, Lupita Nyong’o, in awards contention this season, a look at the clothes that helped tell the story. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] You could watch Jordan Peele’s “Us” a dozen times and still not catch all of the symbolism, references and ideas tucked in it. Yes, scissors are clearly a thing, but what’s with that […]

Etika (b. 1990), The Lives They Lived: Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year. | The New York Times

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020African American Health, Mental Health

His mental health problems collided tragically with the attention economy. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] On midnight of June 20, a new video went live on Etika’s channel. In it, the 29-year-old YouTube star filmed himself as he walked through Lower Manhattan, speaking to the camera with a steady clarity that seemed almost eerie in light of his […]

The Ivy Hotel: Maryland’s Black-Owned Oasis in the Middle of Charm City | Ebony

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020African American Entrepreneurs, African American Travel

The Black-owned boutique hotel has been open only five years, yet it already has a strong-hold on hospitality in the city. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Despite countless contributions to American culture, Baltimore, Maryland, has been associated with nothing more strongly than HBO drama The Wire over the past two decades. The street life depicted on the Emmy-winning […]